> Varroa collapse has always  looked more like a disease to me than just a
case of physical damage to the host by a parasite.  I'm beginning to believe
that more of our maladies in Honey bees may be virus or microbe related.

Mike, I am in complete agreement with you, based upon my review of the
literature, as well as my practical observations.

>
> >Perhaps N. ceranae introduction was accompanied  by a new strain of bee
> virus X--awaiting discovery and characterization.


We have a prominent researcher on this List who will be publishing in
support of that very hypothesis.


> >I also wonder if some of our breeding is not favoring bees that are  being
> selected (unknowingly) for viral resistance along with mite tolerance.
>  Selection for healthy bees that happen to have resistance to certain virus
> might explain some of the survivor stock phenomena.


Again, I am in total agreement.  This is what Dr. Tom Rinderer's PhD thesis
was on--breeding for resistance to CBPV.  Easy to do.  Ditto for recent
research from Dr. Ilan Sela's lab.  I have discussed this with some of the
largest bee operations in this country, as well as many large queen
producers.  I'm guessing that is exactly what is happening in my own
operation, and am curious about the genetics (and epigenetics) of those
colonies that survived my virus cocktail.

> I have not heard of queen breeders with virology labs for testing.  Virus
testing has stayed in research labs that are very carefully studying
viruses.

Actually, such breeding can be done with no more equipment than a kitchen
blender (as was done by Rinderer).  Some organic gardeners make up "bug
juice" by grinding up pest insects, and then spraying the solution over
their plants in the hope that it will spread pathogens for those pests.
Works exactly the same for bee breeding stock, plus will likely upregulate
specific immune genes via epigenetic effects.

I have much more along this line of thought that I will be publishing before
long.

Randy Oliver

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